Many games have been added to the Pokémon franchise since its inception,
but none have really deserved the title of sequel until the release of Pokémon Gold/Silver.
These versions double the size of the world, nearly double the number of Pokémon to collect,
and add a wide variety of features that make things run much more smoothly, while keeping the focus
and engine of the original game intact.

At first glance, not a lot seems to have changed. The graphics outside of combat
use the exact same minimalist sprites as the original for the most part, albeit now in color. Beneath the
surface however, many new features have been added. Most importantly, the inventory is automatically
sorted into four separate sections. Plot items such as keys no longer take up valuable space in the
main inventory, nor do Pokéballs, or training machines. The select button can be set as a shortcut
to one item as well, as an additional friendly feature. Pokémon themselves receive the same
treatment with a Pokédex that can be resorted, searched, and paged through quickly. More importantly,
Pokémon can now be moved freely within a box, or even between boxes, and even the boxes themselves
can be renamed, making organization a much simpler task than in the original.

Now in color!

This friendlier interface is not the only new feature. The new versions of Pokémon
also come outfitted with an internal real time clock. Some events in the game happen only at certain times
of the day, or on certain days of the week. Other events take the passage of time into account. For
example, the world is dotted with trees that dispense free healing items, but only one may be plucked
per day. Thankfully none of these time sensitive events are vital to the completion of the game,
so rearranging one's schedule to accomplish in-game tasks is only necessary for those who wish
to find all of the games secrets.

Obtaining all of the 251 Pokémon now available is quite the daunting
task. While, as with the original, careful exploration and patience will allow the player to capture,
breed, or trade for nearly every Pokémon, some new concerns now factor in. Obviously, some
Pokémon are now nocturnal and others diurnal. Some also live in trees, some only evolve under
new special circumstances, and a few can only be obtained by breeding two other Pokémon.

A full hundred new ones.

Combat benefits as much as the rest of the game from new innovations. Two new Pokémon
types have been added, making the complex paper-rock-scissors style balancing that much more involved,
new moves have been added, old moves fine tuned, an experience bar is now shown on screen, and
the graphics have been greatly improved, with full sized detailed versions of your own Pokémon
instead of the highly pixellated head shots from the original, and clearer attack animations.

While the gameplay is a vast improvement over the original, the same can't be said for
the plot. While the game is set three years later in an expanded version of the same world, the
plot is still utilitarian at best. While there is the occasional local problem to solve, the
plot of the game can still be summed up in the same single sentence. "Become the world's top Pokémon
trainer."

Nearly every aspect of Pokémon Gold and Silver is an improvement over the
original. Bigger, longer, better looking, more complex, and the music is far less irritating than
the original's. However, completing the secondary goal of obtaining every Pokémon now
requires three versions of the game, and over a hundred hours of play, which may intimidate newcomers
to the series. For the rest of us, the addiction simply continues.